Natural Science
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If you’re in the business of regularly putting down your thoughts onto paper or screen, you’re probably a pretty curious sort, and probably pretty observant. People who don’t regularly exercise their God-given writing talent probably think the rest of us just aren’t paying attention to them, or are paying jvfattention to small, insignificant things.
And we are. We are daydreaming.
Those small things aren’t insignificant. They’re interesting. That person we’re looking at–we’re not “checking them out” or “giving them the staredown.” We’re trying to capture how they look or sound or walk in words so we can use it in a story somewhere. The trees overhead might spark a descriptive passage for use later. The sound of running water might inspire a new way of conveying that sound into words. And so on.
The other day, I was lying on the trampoline with my daughter, looking at the clouds. It was a bright sunny day before a massive thunderstorm moved in, and I saw a massive cloud moving in from the east, proverbially white and puffy, looming over the trees like a continent in flight. The edge of it looked like a giant, screaming face with a snub little nose, mouth agape in either a cry of pain or triumph. Smaller, darker wisps of condensation moved at lower altitudes from the west, flitting by like butterflies trying to avoid the notice of an approaching eagle. I could have stared at these clouds and their intricate archipelago of ever-changing islands all afternoon, but it was time to get dinner ready and my daughter wanted to get off the trampoline. The point is, I wasn’t doing nothing by staring at the sky. I was working.
There’s so much to inspire if you just look around. For me, it’s the ocean, my children, walking through the garden, stargazing . . . I take heart knowing that the late, great Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart used to birdwatch (how rockstar of him!) and that many of his lyrics were inspired by his love of hiking, cross-country skiing, and motorcycling across the continent. This is apparent in his imagery and the metaphors he uses to make broader observations about the human condition.
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If you find life boring, or the world boring, my best guess is that you may be too plugged in. We have the modern concept of being “very on-line” for a reason. There is something refreshing about being out in nature. It’s both frightening in its awesome magnitude and comforting in its elemental connection to what lies deep in every human soul. Whatever your inclination, or your profession, I suggest taking some simple awe in the glory of creation.
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